Model Comparison

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning vs Qwen2 72B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Phi 4 Mini Reasoning vs Qwen2 72B Instruct — which is better?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning (by Microsoft) and Qwen2 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Phi 4 Mini Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Phi 4 Mini Reasoning if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025

Choose Qwen2 72B Instruct if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 07 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

68.2B diff

Qwen2 72B Instruct has 68.2B more parameters than Phi 4 Mini Reasoning, making it 1794.7% larger.

Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini Reasoning
3.8Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
3.8B
Phi 4 Mini Reasoning
72.0B
Qwen2 72B Instruct

License

Usage and distribution terms

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2 72B Instruct uses tongyi-qianwen.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

MIT

Open weights

Qwen2 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning was released on 2025-04-30, while Qwen2 72B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is 9 months newer than Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Apr 30, 2025

1.1 years ago

9mo newer
Qwen2 72B Instruct

Jul 23, 2024

1.9 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-02-01, while Qwen2 72B Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Phi 4 Mini Reasoning's training data extends to 2025-02-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen2 72B Instruct's cutoff date.

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning

Feb 2025

Qwen2 72B Instruct

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Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Microsoft
Higher GPQA score (52.0% vs 42.4%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Microsoft
Phi 4 Mini Reasoning
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Phi 4 Mini Reasoning vs Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Which is better, Phi 4 Mini Reasoning or Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is made by Microsoft and Qwen2 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Phi 4 Mini Reasoning compare to Qwen2 72B Instruct in benchmarks?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning scores MATH-500: 94.6%, AIME: 57.5%, GPQA: 52.0%. Qwen2 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.1%, CMMLU: 90.1%, HellaSwag: 87.6%, HumanEval: 86.0%, Winogrande: 85.1%.

What are the main differences between Phi 4 Mini Reasoning and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs tongyi-qianwen). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Phi 4 Mini Reasoning and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Phi 4 Mini Reasoning is developed by Microsoft and Qwen2 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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